


Dangerous Attraction

by cinnamon_skull



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Age Reversal, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Reincarnation, Anal Sex, Breath Control Play, Drinking, Flirting, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Smut, Horny Eren Yeager, Kissing, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Power Play, Romance, SO MUCH FLUFF, Smut, celestial metaphors
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-05
Updated: 2016-03-26
Packaged: 2018-04-07 21:11:43
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 8,241
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4278093
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cinnamon_skull/pseuds/cinnamon_skull
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A home for all of my random ereri drabbles to live - in multiple universes and across dozens of timelines. Or, my ode to pining.</p><p>“How we need another soul to cling to, another body to keep us warm. To rest and trust; to give your soul in confidence: I need this, I need someone to pour myself into.” - Sylvia Plath</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Anything

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by the anon headcanon "if Eren says Levi's name the right way he can get him to do anything" on my tumblr

“Levi,” Eren says, his voice floating through the darkness like a caress, and a familiar warmth starts to creep up the back of Levi’s neck. 

A dull, orange light filters in through the small window, casting the interior of their bedroom in an eerie glow like the hazy landscape of a dream. Shafts of yellowing light gently illuminate the dark brown of Eren’s bare torso as he lays, silent and still, atop their bed. Only the rapid rise and fall of his chest hint at the war erupting beneath.

Levi slides one hand up to trace the lovely arc of Eren’s neck, over the straining tendons and gentle slope of his Adam’s apple. When his slender fingers are resting, softly, against the tan column of his throat, he hears Eren’s breathy gasp. His pink, pouty lips are parted and his head is thrown back at a wild, impossible angle, pressing every inch of available skin into Levi’s hands.

“Levi,” he says again, lower, darker, the unforgiving tone of a man holding all the water in the desert without the means to drink. Not a command, not quite a plead, just the sharp, needy edge, painful and potent. 

Levi strokes his fingers over the silky skin, takes his time mapping out his territory, the wild, erratic beat of Eren’s pulse drumming so beautifully against his touch. And then Eren does something magnificent and maddening, works his throat so that Levi can feel the silent quivers of Eren’s tendons shuddering beneath his palm. 

Those iridescent green eyes, so dark and lust-shiny, draw Levi in until he’s drowning in that same, violent desire, like a delirium. When he squeezes down, he feels his lover’s body shake, feels how hot and hard Eren is against him. 

Later, when Eren rasps his name beneath the sheets, so raw and perfect, Levi knows that it’s the kind of sound worth loving—and dying—for.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I take requests on my tumblr - cinnamonskull


	2. Prey

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Inspired by the anon headcanon "Levi has a thing for cats, but no one really knows"

Eren knows a thing about Levi, a secret, dark thing, something that he’d wrung from his lover’s lips in a moment of ecstasy, an instant of such pleasurable weakness that the words were pouring from his mouth like honey. 

It isn’t an animal thing, not really. Levi just likes the idea of a predator, likes to imagine he’s being hunted and coveted, reducing all of his complications to a baser state; a plaything, a piece of meat for Eren to mark and claw and claim. 

Even now, as he watches Eren slink toward him, sees the sleek muscles of his bare back move under the dim lighting of their bedroom, an unrelenting, pulsing need to submit overtakes him. The tantalizing roll of Eren’s hips, the wiry, corded muscles of Eren’s forearms moving closer and closer until he’s caging Levi in, his blazing eyes never leaving his prey. 

And through hooded, feline eyes, Eren goes in for the kill, sinking his teeth into the pale skin of Levi’s throat. Eren finds that tonight he is rather hungry after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The important lesson learned here: be careful what you ask for ;)


	3. The Gym

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Levi pines for Eren while at the gym.

Levi likes how passionate Eren is with all of his clients. At first he tells himself his little infatuation is just something to pass the time. It’s boring running on the treadmill, and all the televisions ever play are cooking and reality shows, neither of which interest him in the slightest.

Eren teaches him things, he reasons, and it is partly true. His training method consists of the perfect mix of tough love and ass kicking that earns him respect among the members, and Levi has stolen a few of his favorite moves. But it’s really Eren’s unwavering optimism that attracts Levi, makes him feel hot and sweaty for entirely different reasons. It’s contagious and dangerous, and after a few weeks Levi can’t easily explain away his silent admiration. 

Not when he’s been caught grinning stupidly at the taller man’s antics from across the room, the combination of sweating and smiling a telltale sign of his interest - why else would he look so happy on the treadmill? But Levi is too shy to say anything, too nervous and hopeless when it comes to dating to even think he could have a chance with someone so fundamentally nice. 

But the thought of seeing Eren every morning makes waking up at 5 a.m. a little more bearable. And a for awhile, that’s enough. 

Everything changes when Eren unexpectedly stops showing up. That first week at the gym is confusing, lonely. Levi keeps glancing at the door waiting to see Eren push through with his loud exuberance, but by the 10th day he knows he isn’t coming.

After walking by the front desk five times in half an hour on the 11th day, he gathers the courage to approach the friendly looking receptionist in braids. "Can I help you?“ she smiles.

"Yeah, I wanted to learn more about your personal training programs.” It’s the first thing Levi thinks to ask.

After a few more questions, all of which Levi is embarrassingly unprepared to answer, he learns that Eren has switched his training schedule to the evenings - 8 p.m. to be exact. 

That night, Levi doesn’t question it when he finds himself at the gym’s parking lot for the second time that day, 7:59 lighting up his dash in green letters almost the same shade as Eren’s eyes.

Eren’s there, off to the side, and the sight of his tight black t-shirt stretching across the muscles of his back after so many days sends a surge of heat through his body. But as Levi warms up on the treadmill, he feels suddenly nervous at the thought of Eren noticing him. Is it weird? Will Eren think him a stalker?

When he’s moved up to a brisk jog, Eren turns around and their eyes make perfect contact, green burning into grey. Eren seems to loose his thought, pausing his conversation with his client and going completely still, his full attention focused on Levi. It’s maddening and frightening, and Levi considers running right out the front door without a backwards glance. 

And then Eren smiles, a brilliant, beautiful smile that says everything Levi could have hoped for, and more. Levi finds himself smiling back, and he thinks that maybe, just maybe, his little gym crush hadn’t been so one-sided after all.


	4. Bathtime

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Levi and Eren take a bath.

Even after all this time, Eren thinks there is something thrilling about being able to run his hands over the expanse of Levi’s pale skin, the faint sound of skin moving against skin echoing softly off the tiled walls of the bathroom. 

White wisps of steam curl beautifully around his lover’s face, the pristine brightness of the tub throwing the dark shadows gathered underneath Levi’s eyes in sharp relief, reminding Eren of purple galaxies that draw him into an unknowable, inescapable depth. 

He moves his hands beneath the warm water to to slide his thumbs up and down the sensitive skin of Levi’s inner thighs, and the breathy, quiet sigh that escapes those lips warms up his senses like a slow burning candle, endlessly lighting the blackness of his mind until all he can think is Levi, Levi, Levi.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These are short for now, but my plan is to increase the size and depth of the drabbles as we go on. Hang in there ; )


	5. Mirror Image

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Levi makes Eren look in the mirror.

“So, what do you see?” Levi asked, resting his forehead on the back of Eren’s shoulder and nudging gently with his chin. 

Eren let out a huff of air. “This is stupid.”

“No it’s not,” Levi responded. He ran his hands up Eren’s bare sides, soft and slow. “You’re not looking.”

“There isn’t anything to see,” Eren said, and Levi could feel his body tense beneath his fingertips. “Nothing has changed. Nothing will ever change.”

Levi studied Eren’s form in the mirror. He was tall, growing taller each day, and Levi feared he’d be Erwin’s height before summer’s end. He looked on the scrawny side with lanky limbs that hung around his body at awkward angles. 

But strength, raw and a little frightening, radiated from just beneath his perfect skin, and though no scars marred his body, Levi knew the shape and weight of the wounds Eren carried. 

“That’s not true,” Levi murmured near Eren’s ear. “Now look.” 

Levi coaxed Eren’s face up with his fingers, so that his eyes met Eren’s in the mirror. If Eren’s body betrayed none of his battles, then his eyes held no secrets, two jade stones that could burn a hole through anything. 

Levi continued to cup Eren’s face, his thumb drifting lightly over the skin of his cheek. “Look.”

When Eren did, when his eyes traced the lines of his body through the mirror, his fists clenched at his sides. “Monster.”

It hurt, the way Eren’s voice sounded so resigned and hopeless. Levi placed a kiss on his shoulder, just a brush of skin against skin. 

“So?” Levi asked. “You’re a monster. So what?”

“What?” Eren was frowning and biting his lip. 

“We’re all monsters in this world.” Levi moved his hand up his stomach until his spread palm was resting on Eren’s chest. “The people out there, the Titans, everyone. Even me.” 

“No,” Eren whispered, twining his fingers with Levi’s, so that both of their hands were resting over his heart. “Not you.”

Their gazes lingered for a long while, grey and green, watching the way their hands fit together over the slow rise and fall of Eren’s chest.


	6. Things you said under the stars and in the grass

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tumblr writing meme ask: Things you said under the stars and in the grass. Ereri.

It had been a lonely few years. Levi had made promises to himself, quiet, crying oaths that had turned out to be as easy to bend as the lithe, flowing vines of the willow tree in his backyard.

He’d tried to dig in deep, solid roots, but the soil always shifted under his feet, parting his resolve as easy as river water against rocks or tall grass in a high wind.

Never again, he’d said into the darkness.

But Eren had a way of calling him back, even with his eyes set hard on the horizon. Grass seeds shook in his hands, blooming into emerald hills that held nothing, so dull and aching were they in the shape of his loneliness.

The day had waned into twilight, the dusty, grey light of the fading sun muting the colors around him. He hadn’t thought much of Eren, and looking back it had been a clear warning that his tides were about to change course again, that the world, listlessly spinning on its axis, had begun to unravel the cosmic pull of his life once more.

Green splendor was waiting for him in the grass. A snake. A lifeline. A jade thread, not red, made from the same material as Levi, but so stunningly different it made his eyes burn just looking at it.

Eren Jaeger, lying on his back, staring up at the sky from a grassy patch in his backyard. Perched up on forearms, smiling lazily like he could read all Levi’s secrets in between the brail of the stars.

“Last time I was here,” Eren called from the grass, his voice low and dark like smoke. “You lied to me.”

“Yes,” Levi said softly, moving slowly in Eren’s direction. It was no use fighting it, anyway. “And you lied to me.”

“We’ve always been liars.” Eren is still looking up, the strong angle of his jaw and the long line of his neck exposed, making heat coil, slow and sinuous in his gut.

Levi lets the words wrap around them. The crickets chirp and hum, and lighting bugs start to flicker to life between blades of grass.

But it’s not nature that Levi’s looking at when Eren’s head snaps back to regard him coolly from the ground. “Words can be so painful, don’t you think, Levi?”

Levi sinks to his knees in the grass at Eren’s feet. “No,” he whispers the word slowly. “It’s the waiting that always hurts the most.”

Eren falls back into the grass then, bringing his arms up to cradle the back of his head. How can someone be so vulnerable and strong at the same time? Eren could move mountains with the crook of his finger, but he only smiles when he’s picking at the threads in Levi’s chest.

“How much time do we have?” Eren asks.

Levi lies in the grass next to Eren, close enough to feel his warmth but not close enough to touch their bodies together, even though he wants to very, very much.

“Tonight,” he says to the sky, and imagines that his words float up to part the stars, to rewrite some of his own history. “And forever.”

Eren doesn’t say anything, but when Levi feels his hot fingers fill the spaces between his own, he knows the other man’s answer.

_Forever._

The word floats between them in the dark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For the endlessly lovely Tanekore!


	7. The things you said while you were drunk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Levi and Eren get a little drunk - silliness and horniness follow.

“I’m serious, you make the best coffee,” Levi shouted, taking another sip of his drink. “I bet you could sell it.” 

“You think?” Eren laughed. “You might be on to something.”

He felt warm and tingly, enjoying a night out drinking with his boyfriend. It wasn’t often that they allowed themselves to get quite so shitfaced–at least not in public–but there was something undoubtedly thrilling about watching Levi come undone.

“Or you could make candles,” Levi said encouragingly. “You always smell so good. It’s so hot in here.”

“Wait, what?” Eren slurred, slamming his empty glass on the bar top and wiping his mouth on the back of his arm. It joined a rather large pile scattered between the two men. 

Levi looked far too serious for the amount of alcohol Eren knew was currently pumping through his veins.

“You smell good,” Levi whispered, leaning over the table to get closer. Eren reached out fingers to trace the line of his jaw and then slid them down the pale skin of his neck to tug at his collar.

Levi was the hottest piece of ass he’d ever had the chance to call his own. In fact, Eren felt himself getting hard under the table, thinking about filling that ass with his hot come and pressing that deep spot inside of Levi that was made for him.

“Are you listening?” Levi flailed his hands in front of Eren’s face, wild and uncoordinated. He smiled lazily, hoping Levi could read the sudden lust he felt coloring his drunken haze, like a fever.

“No,” Eren said, pulling his face up so that their lips were very close together. Levi turned eyes on him, two depthless wells of rippling, dark water. “I’m thinking about fucking you.”

His eyes watched Levi’s throat bob seductively before the other man griped the table with white knuckles. “Here? Now?” he stuttered out. Hopeful? Shocked?

Eren tipped his head back and laughed. “Levi,” he said, a little breathlessly and traced his foot along the back of his boyfriend’s calf. “You’re so drunk.”

“You’re drunk,” he responded, petulantly, like a child who hadn’t gotten his way. 

“Good comeback, Levi.” Eren signaled for the waitress to close their tab. “Why don’t we go home, where you can really impress me with your mouth.”

The ten minute cab ride back to their apartment was a blurry mess of lips and hands, but Eren had no doubt in his mind that he’d get his wish.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For the amazing Ahnastclair!


	8. Things you said with no space between us.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tumblr prompt - "Things you said with no space between us."

Things you said with no space between us.

“I want to be inside you,” Eren says, like a sigh against Levi’s lips.

“ _Ahh_ , Eren, you are inside me,” Levi pants out between thrusts, throwing his head back and twisting his fingers into Eren’s hair. “God, _right there_.”

“No,” Eren whispers, pausing his movements to stare down at him, despite the other man’s whines. Beautiful, mysterious Levi. “I want to know what the stars look like from behind your eyes, I want feel your thoughts like wind in my hair.”

Levi’s unfocused eyes wander down Eren’s body to the place their joined, deep and hard and aching, and then back up. Something in his gaze softens then, a movement of clouds over cold steel.

“You feel this?” Levi takes Eren’s hand and places it over his throat, so that his fingers rest against his wildly beating pulse.

Eren nods his head, squeezing down slightly to push Levi’s heartbeat into his palm.

“Good,” Levi says, placing his hand on Eren’s wrist and squeezing.

They stare at each other for a long while, not moving except to explore each other’s skin. Eren feels Levi’s heartbeat where his hand rests beneath the older man’s jaw, and he knows Levi must feel his own furiously jumping pulse beneath the grip on his wrist.

In that moment, Eren understands that he can’t ever really know Levi, not in the way he wants. But feeling their heartbeats move in unison beneath humid skin, it doesn’t matter.

He knows everything he needs to, and it’s the rhythm of their connected hearts that plays in the back of his mind when they fall over that sharp edge into pleasure.


	9. Are you flirting with me?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eren flirts with Levi at Bed, Bath & Beyond. Sexual innuendos and overall UST below.

When Levi had bad weeks, nothing felt better than visiting his local Bed, Bath & Beyond.

Something about the wall-to-wall candle display nestled next to the cleaning supplies really set the mood for him.

Plus, this particular location blasted high-energy pop songs that instantly lifted his mood. While Levi drew the line at dancing between aisles, he was not opposed to singing along while he lugged cleaning supplies into his shopping cart. 

“I fly like paper, get high like planes,” Levi hummed along, bending down for a blue bottle of Windex. “If you catch me at the border I got visas in my name.”

When he felt sufficiently stocked, Levi ambled over to glassware section. Crystal-stemmed champagne glasses and embossed beer steins glittered underneath the bright lights. 

“Pick up daddies at the playground, how I spend my daytime,” Levi sung along while pondering the difference between stemless wine glasses and ones forged in Tuscany. 

“Drinking and cleaning, is that really a good idea?” someone asked behind him, with a voice like burning wood.

Levi whirled to face reason number one why this particular Bed, Bath & Beyond was his favorite. Messy brown hair framing perfect, tanned skin and the brightest teeth Levi had ever seen. But it was those green eyes that brought Levi back, reminding him of winding trails through acres of tall pines.

“I like to clean,” Levi said defensively, trying to fight the blush he felt creeping up the sides of his neck.

“I can see that,” Eren chirped, his eyes scanning over several bottles of bleach lining Levi’s cart.

“And I like to unwind after with a glass of red wine,” Levi turned back to the glasses, partly to avoid Eren’s stare and partly to stop himself from devouring Eren with his own eyes. “Which one of these sells better?”

“The Tuscany wine glasses sell better,” Eren answered honestly, and Levi was acutely aware of how close Eren was standing behind him. “But personally,” he paused, reaching up to run his finger over the rim of the stemless glass near Levi’s hand. “I like the stemless.”

Eren’s movement made his chest bump into Levi’s upper back, but he didn’t pull away, just let his warmth press into Levi like it was the most natural thing in the world.

“Are you even old enough to drink?” Levi swallowed, trying to focus on the task at hand instead of the way he could smell Eren over his shoulder, like fresh, damp soil and Maple wood.

“Is that an invitation?” Levi could hear the smile in Eren’s voice against his ear. 

“If you want to clean my place, I won’t stop you,” Levi responded, caulking it up to the pop music blasting and the faint chill running up his spine.

“If I do, will you sing for me?” Levi bit his lip, glad Eren couldn’t see his face, because he was definitely blushing now.

Eren still hadn’t moved back, instead moving his fingers to brush against the back of Levi’s hand resting on the shelf. 

“Are you flirting with me?” Levi blurted out.

“My shift ends at 9,” Eren said, finally pulling away. Levi could still feel all the places where their bodies had touched. 

“And?” Levi asked, grabbing a box of the stemless wine glasses from the shelf.

“And this is the fifth Friday night you’ve spent flirting with me at Bed, Bath & Beyond,” Eren said. “So if I bring a bottle of red and my favorite Swifter, can I come to your place?”

“Okay,” Levi said, trying not to make a big deal of it. But his hand shook as he wrote his address on a scrap of receipt paper and pushed it into Eren’s steady, perfect hands.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For the talented the-ugly-fic-ling!


	10. Cherry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reincarnation AU - Eren tries to pick up Levi at the bar.

Levi had forgotten, immensely, how interesting other people could be. He’d spent a long time alone, and longer still avoiding stray glances at his local bar. He thought he’d learned everything he ever needed to about men and women.

They always wanted things—primal, hard things, like pulling fistfuls of dirt from the ground and then asking why nothing new had grown. 

Strange, compulsive needs that scared Levi and made him wind the golden strings of his spine like a grandfather clock. But time refused to quicken, no matter had badly he willed it. 

Most of all, other people always seemed to want the very things that Levi couldn’t possibly deliver—not least of all because he was unwilling, but because those things were broken and not entirely his to give.

So he wasn’t surprised, nor exactly eager when a young man hopped onto the barstool next to him and tried his best to push away the gloom Levi had resting on his shoulders like a winter jacket.

And the boy did have a bit of the sun about him, clinging to the beauty of his youth and the lithe lines of his body, but Levi saw the wanting in him same as everyone else.

“It’s no use,” Levi said gruffly, turning back to his drink and away from the hazy green of his eyes. “Go find someone else to charm. You get me?”

“No,” the young man said simply, shaking his leg against the bar. “I’d rather not. I’m Eren, by the way.”

Levi felt very old then, like if he sliced a knife into his forearm the rings of millions of years would be etched inside his bones.

“Maybe you are Eren,” Levi said quietly, looking at the all the strangers in his bar. “And maybe you’re not.”

That seemed to give the other man pause, earning him a long look over the rim of his glass. What a strange thing to say - why had he said it? 

“And maybe,” Eren said, leaning in to Levi’s space with his lips quirked in pure determination. “You’re more interested than you think.”

Eren was watching him closely now. “What makes you so special?” he asked without looking at him.

“Oh, I wouldn’t say I’m special,” Eren smiled then, sharp and cold. It sent something stirring in Levi’s mind, like wind moving through autumn leaves, while he stood beneath and stared at the blur of brass colors smearing against the sky.

Instead of asking Have we met?, which seemed so insanely ridiculous he dared to even think the words, he snapped, “Then what good are you?”

Eren just gave him another unreadable look. Then he plucked the cherry from his drink and brought it to his mouth. He slid the red, shining fruit over his bottom lip before popping it in. A bright flash of teeth, and then he waved the cherry stem in Levi’s face before sliding it between his lips, all without taking his eyes off of Levi. 

A moment later, he stuck his tongue out slowly. The cherry stem sat on the middle of his flattened tongue, tied in a perfect knot.

“Gross,” Levi said, fighting the breathlessness that tried to claw its way up his throat. It was a parlor trick, nothing more than a means for the boy to get what he wanted.

Levi doubted he rarely heard the word no. 

Eren set the tied cherry stem on the bar between them. “You don’t think it’s gross.” 

“Oh, but I do,” Levi said, feeling angry suddenly, lying tight knuckled fists on the bar. “You’re just like everyone else. As you said, there isn’t anything special about you.”

Eren moved his eyes down to Levi’s crotch and then back up, catching at his throat and lips before meeting his gaze. “Liar,” he said. “I don’t remember you being such a bad liar, Levi.”

And like that, a switch flipped in the back of Levi’s mind at the sound of his name. Terribly green fields, skinless suns and the grey, haunting steam that rose from the puddles of blood staining everything in perfect crimson.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Follow me at www.cinnamonskull.tumblr.com for more snk drabbles. : ) <3


	11. On the Market

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Inspired by a Tweet found on Tumblr: Asked a Target employee if I could open this camera before I buy it, and he said he wouldn't even care if I killed someone in front of him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also inspired by my own, misplaced anger at cute salt and pepper shakers.

Eren wandered through the aisles of his local Target, pausing every few steps to pick up something he didn’t need, like a blue and white candle in the shape of a whale or a pile of colorful folders.

It wasn’t that he didn’t have money to spend. It was that he was feeling rather lonely, and really, who wanted a pair of smiling, adorably in love peas in a pod shalt and pepper shakers if he didn’t have someone waiting at home to enjoy them with? It seemed cruel.

After another half hour of pitiful sighing, Eren found himself staring blankly into the face of a large television screen, which was currently crackling gray and white static. Several boxes were pushed off to the side, stacked neatly below a red and orange sign that boasted a very decent discount.

Eren was reminded, rather sharply, that after long days at work he loved nothing more than to crack open a bottle of wine, curl up on the couch with his boyfriend and unwind with a little Netflix.

Except, Eren didn’t have a boyfriend or a television. Not anymore. Both had disappeared a few months ago, and Eren had felt too depressed to purchase another TV. Or go on a date.

Eren looked at the sale price again. Maybe it was a sign, and he was meant to purchase a TV tonight.

“Excuse me,” Eren called out, turning his head to get the attention of a nearby sales associate. “Can you help me?”

Except this particular sales associate, after making brief eye contact with Eren, turned away and blatantly ignored him. Eren looked around to see if there was anyone else in the electronics department who might be able to help him, but everyone else looked busy.

“Hello there,” Eren tried again, putting a little more effort in to smile as he approached the employee. “Would you mind helping me?”

The employee sighed and slowly turned toward Eren. “Yes?” he asked in a flat voice.

Eren pointed at the stack of TVs in front of them. “Hi, yes, I’d like to buy one of these.”

“No shit,” sales associate of the year responded. His nametag read Levi.

“Excuse me?” Eren asked. He didn’t know whether to be amused or offended. Levi had short black hair and the palest looking skin he’d even seen. His red uniform wasn’t doing him any favors, but it did bring out his icy blue eyes.

“I’m absolutely ecstatic that you’ve joined the masses and succumbed to your consumer-driven desire to fulfill the emptiness in your life with another TV, positively thrilled,” Levi responded, folding his arms over his chest. “Did you just feel like sharing or did you need something?”

Eren furrowed his brow. Sarcasm wasn’t exactly his favorite language, but he was pretty sure that Levi was making fun of him.

“I know it’s strange,” Eren laughed and rubbed at the back of his neck. “But can I open the box before I buy it? Do you mind?”

“Listen,” Levi said, licking his lips. His eyes looked suddenly alive and shining in a way that made Eren’s skin break out in goose bumps. “I wouldn’t even care if you killed someone in front of me.”

“Umm,” Eren answered, quickly looking around to see if any of the other customers had overheard their conversation. Levi wasn’t whispering, and this night was turning into one of the most bizarre experiences of his life.

Levi looked disappointed at Eren’s lack of reaction and rolled his eyes, suddenly looking so bored that Eren thought he must have missed something. After all, it wasn’t every day that someone told him he could get away with murder.

“What’s that look for?” Eren asked, peering down at Levi’s slumped shoulders and noticing the dark purple bags under his eyes. He felt oddly determined, like when he was working on a particularly challenging crossword puzzle. “I mean, you aren’t, you didn’t think I’d actually want to kill someone, did you?”

“Well, yeah,” Levi gestured vaguely with his hand. “I thought maybe.”

“Maybe?” Eren echoed when Levi offered no further explanation. “Do I,” Eren took a deep breath, amazed that he was even engaging in such a conversation. “Do I look the type?”

“Oh, yes.” Levi answered quickly, running his eyes down Eren’s body once before flicking them back to the row of TV screens glumly. Eren had seen a spark for a moment, and he wanted to gather it into his hands and feed that fire.

“Who would I even… “ Eren trailed off.

Levi scanned the electronics section quickly. “Look at that woman over there. You see her, the one in blue?”

“Yeah.”

“Besides the fact that she’s dressed in a snuggie,” Levi said, shuddering. “She’s currently picking off the price tag sticker to that DVD and adding it to the one she wants because it’s cheaper.”

Eren nodded his head. It was bad, Levi was right. “But murder?”

“Or, that kid over there. See him?”

“Yeah?”

“He just smashed a $200 game consul on the ground and is now trying to push the broken pieces under the shelf so his parents won’t see.”

“A kid?” Eren whispered.

“His parents probably think it all the time. Or I would, if my kid just walked around throwing expensive things on the ground every place he went and then having a tantrum about it.”

The high-pitched screams could be heard from where they were standing.

“Okay, okay,” Levi snapped his fingers. “I got it. Look at that girl. She just dumped her entire Pizza Hut pizza all over that laptop and is now walking away. Doesn’t that just get you going, even a little bit?”

“I mean,” Eren started. “Yeah, I guess that’s pretty shitty.”

“Uh-huh,” Levi said, smiling suddenly. Eren didn’t like the way it did strange things to his stomach. “Thought so. You big murderer you.”

Eren threw his hands up. “What are we even talking about? This is ridiculous!”

“That’s exactly what a murderer would say,” Levi responded wisely. He did look a bit upset about the pizza though, watching as it slid to the floor in a gooey, saucy mess.

“I came here to buy a TV not to be interrogated by a disgruntled employee,” Eren said.

“I’m not disgruntled, I’m very gruntled,” Levi shrugged his shoulders again. “Besides, I’m quitting tonight.”

“You are?” Eren couldn’t help but ask, surprised.

“Fuck yes, I can’t wait to get out of here.”

Eren scratched his chin. “What are you thoughts on red wine and Netflix?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know where I live.


	12. Atlas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Birthday drabble for the incredible Cy.
> 
> He’d tried to stop this thing from happening, but they had found a kindred hopefulness in their feral wanting, bound so closely by the weight of unspoken vows.

Levi looks in the mirror. Really looks.

The first word he thinks is _old._ And it’s true; five years have passed like a drop of rain, almost painful in its swiftness and just as elusive.

And with it, the red hatefulness of loss. Violence and desperation push against him from all sides, and he feels wall after wall spring up at every turn.

So much has changed, and yet nothing at all.

Levi spares only a fleeting glance at his face, so expressionless and lonely that even he can’t begin to decipher the emotion that’s trying to burn through the steel of his eyes.

Maybe there is a soft hue of grey hairs framing his temples. Maybe his slight frame is still full of sharp angles and thick, sinewy muscle. Maybe the marks of his servitude are still seared into his skin like constant reminders of a promise he can’t remember making.

It remains unfulfilled. He feels its weight, heavy and sharp, filling the spaces between his ribs.

_Weakness._

His skin is as pale and fragile looking as ever, scraped up and scarred. But…

There is nothing strong about the way Levi’s hands tremble as he traces the fresh marks on his skin, violet and dark blue.

Where Eren has left his marks, like Levi is his favorite manuscript and he’s plotted all his favorite spots to revisit, again and again. He’s left a pattern, and Levi traces it carefully with his fingertip, as if he could read the meaning in the small act of chaotic violence.

There’s a noise behind him and suddenly tan fingers are lacing with his own, and he can see Eren’s face in the mirror, cradled in the space between his neck and shoulder.

“What are you doing up?” Levi asks, watching the way Eren’s hands begin to roam over his chest with such familiarity it almost hurts.

“I had another dream.” Levi can see from the murky green of his eyes that he doesn’t want to talk about it.

Eren’s fingers press into the bruises at his hip, blooming up like violets that smell of Eren’s lips.

He’d tried to stop this thing from happening, but they had found a kindred hopefulness in their feral wanting, bound so closely by the weight of unspoken vows.

“Do you want me to read to you?” Sometimes the sound of Levi’s voice helps Eren come back from the dark places.

Eren stops stroking Levi’s skin to rest his chin on his shoulder. There is an eerie kind of stillness to Eren’s movements that speak so deeply of his desperation, like he wants to breath himself into Levi’s lungs.

“I’m not afraid,” Eren murmurs, and they both feel the words pull and push, like a shared tide lapping between two shorelines.

The way the words vibrate against his skin and soak into his bones.

_Thrilling._

It’s the last word Levi thinks before Eren twists him around, claiming his lips in a feverish kiss.


	13. A Little Tree

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tumblr prompt: "Open the door!" for allie-ravenwood.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cinnamonskull on tumblr. Join my raptor squad.

Levi wakes up to a quiet, empty bedroom. A quick skim with his hand across the mattress tells him Eren isn’t there. 

The sunlight streaming through the window is bright enough that Levi knows it’s well past mid-morning. He’d been up grading papers until very late the night before, so that he could enjoy the rest of his holiday break with Eren. It’s not much of a surprise that he’d slept later than usual. 

He rubs the heels of his palms against his eyelids until it burns a little, in a good way, and stretches out his heavy limbs. When he presses his nose into Eren’s pillow, it smells like him, and it makes him want to rub one out, a little. It sounds like a great idea to his sleep-addled mind, anyway, but he remembers that it’s late in the day already, and he’d much rather find Eren.

He’s about to jump in the shower when a loud banging fills the silent house.

“Levi,” he hears a distinct voice call from downstairs. “Open the door!” 

His mind reels a little as he pads down the stairs, very aware that he’s only clad in light grey joggers and his morning wood is pressing distractedly into his upper thigh. As he hits the last step, he thinks Eren probably forgot his key or needs help with groceries.

But that’s clearly not the case as Levi freezes and stares at Eren through the thin vertical windowpane of their front door. 

His boyfriend gives him a lopsided grin that does terrible, funny things to his stomach. But then his eyes land on what Eren is struggling with on their tiny front porch and it makes the sleepy, warm haze of his mind retreat immediately. 

“Levi, can you open the door, please?” He stares dumbly at Eren for several seconds in silence until he beckons at Levi through the glass.

Reluctantly, Levi walks to the door and opens it a crack, just wide enough to slit his face through and glare at Eren.

“What’s that?” Levi asks in a haughty voice he knows Eren can’t stand, and his voice is rougher and lower from having just woken up. He already knows the answer, clearly, but he wants to hear Eren say it. 

Eren’s gaze goes sheepish and warm from beneath impossibly green pine needles. “It’s ah, well, a Christmas tree.” 

A Christmas tree. It’s only been two days since Thanksgiving, and it’s 55 degrees with no forecast of snow in the foreseeable future, and Eren is standing on their porch looking hopelessly gorgeous with a small, pathetic looking Christmas tree tucked under his arm.

Eren is dressed in an old flannel that Levi likes to sleep in, sometimes, and a black beanie covers his messy, wind-whipped brown hair. He looks so much like a lumberjack that Levi wants to kiss him just to taste the maple syrup he likes to add to his coffee most mornings.

“Levi,” Eren says in a quiet voice. “Could you, ah, open the door a bit more? I’d like to come inside.” 

“I thought we agreed we weren’t getting a real tree this year, Eren,” Levi says without opening the door further. He watches Eren swallow and look away a moment. But when he lifts his chin, his eyes are brighter and there’s a determined set to his jaw that makes Levi’s heart beat faster.

“I know,” Eren says. “But I saw this tree at the market and it looked so lonely sitting there by itself, and Levi, I promise I’ll vacuum every day.” 

Levi opens the door a bit more, so that he can lean against the doorframe with his arms crossed. “What do you mean it looked lonely? It’s just a tree.”

Eren’s eyes get lost in the smooth skin of Levi’s bare chest for a moment. “It’s got a few broken branches, and it’s a bit on the, ah, smaller side,” Eren answers as his hand clutches the tree closer to his chest. “Marco said they sell the defective trees like this one to crafters in the market, so they can make holiday potpourri.”

Like that explains anything. “So?”

“Come on, Levi,” Eren’s voice catches on his name in the sweetest way, and Levi can already feel his shoulders slumping in defeat. “It’s going to be the best Christmas tree yet.”

“I swear to god Eren,” Levi says, but he’s fighting back a grin now, and Eren knows it. “If you tell me that tree reminded you of me, I’m kicking you out.”

Eren smiles then, big and bright and like the only star Levi cares about. “Don’t be silly,” he says softly, leaning down and pulling Levi in for a quick kiss that does, indeed, taste like maple syrup. “It’s just a tree.”


	14. The Glass Factory

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> B asked for: O. The stars or space. ++ V. An abandoned or empty place. 
> 
> This is the weird result.

“Come on, Patricia!” Eren knocks his flashlight against his thigh. “Work!”

“Did you put new batteries in before we left?” Levi’s calm, steady voice floats through the darkness. Eren notices that he doesn’t call her by name.

He’s only known Levi Ackerman for a little over two hours, so he isn’t surprised by the fact that he doesn’t call Eren’s beautiful, precious purple flashlight by her given name. 

Eren slaps Patricia against his palm a few times. The bulb flickers to life again, illuminating Levi’s amused expression. “My lucky girl pulls through for me again,” he grins.

“You wouldn’t need luck if you had new batteries,” Levi insists, but Eren thinks he’s smiling too. He’s a bit hard to read with a serious face and sharp eyes, but Eren kind of likes the mystery of it all.

After all, it’s not every day that he gets asked by a stranger to aid in the criminal activities of trespassing and breaking and entering. Even if the place is abandoned

Well, mostly abandoned. 

“Alright, Patricia, lead the way!” Eren says, turning his attention to the barely worn trail. He’d parked his car about a mile back, and they’d been trekking through mossy forest in the darkness for a little over fifteen minutes. 

“So, Levi,” Eren says when it gets too quiet. “What did you say you do again?” 

“I didn’t,” Levi answers, and the intrigue is almost too much for Eren. Who knew scrolling through Craigslist two nights ago on a drunken whim would lead to this?

He’d almost missed it too. The cryptic, simple request, asking if anyone knew how to contact the owner of Sina Smith Glass Factory. No reason, no explanation. 

The building had been abandoned for nearly twenty years, surrounded on all sides by fences and regularly patrolled by the town police – the empty property was vast, and drunken teenagers liked to wreak havoc on windows and tag up crumbling brick.

“Oh, classified huh?” Eren replies as his flashlight catches a red and black No Trespassing sign hanging off a rusting fence in the middle of a clearing. “Okay, BB-8, let’s get you to Sina Smith.” 

“I’m going to pretend you didn’t just say that,” Levi responds wryly, stopping in front of the fence with his hands on his hips.

Eren digs his feet through the leaves that have gathered at the base of the fence until he finds what he’s looking for – a carefully camouflaged hole, just big enough for them to slip through.

“What, Star Wars not your thing?” Eren asks as he wriggles under the fence. “Are you more of an Indian Jones guy? Or wait, maybe Jurassic Park? No, um, Pride & Prejudice? You sir, are most phantom-like of all.”

The hum of crickets and the faint echo of nearby running water are loud in the following silence. Eren shuffles to his feet quickly, Patricia illuminating the ground near his feet.

“That’s Jane Eyre,” Levi corrects slowly, and Eren can’t quite read the expression on his face with the chain-link between them. “Have you done this before?” 

Eren thinks Levi might sound surprised—maybe impressed, even. “Once or twice.” 

“Now who’s being vague?” Levi shoots back before he crawls under and joins Eren on the other side.

Eren leads Levi to the back of a large warehouse with a number of broken windows. There are multiple buildings throughout the compound, but this one is secluded enough that they aren’t in danger of being caught. 

That’s what he told Levi in his response. That the owner was dead and the family was currently in a huge legal battle over the property, and that Eren knew the best way to get in and out without anyone noticing.

Levi seemed satisfied with the response and agreed to meet Eren in the parking lot of the diner off 76. Eren had taken one look at the sleekly dressed stranger and asked, you’re not a cop, right? And Levi had thrown his head back and laughed, and Eren decided that it was a sound worth breaking the law for—even if he did have his own reasons for wanting to visit the factory.

“Welcome to Sina Smith,” Eren says, once they sneak through a busted door. The warehouse is huge and lonely, and the roof is collapsed in some parts, allowing moonlight to brighten the room.

He leaves Levi alone and wanders around, shining Patricia on different piles of abandoned glass. Everything is so old now that it’s hard to tell the color right away. 

After a few minutes of silence, Eren can feel those eyes on him again as he bends down to pull handfuls of broken glass into his bag.

“What are you doing?” Levi asks.

“I’m collecting glass,” Eren turns to face the other man. 

Levi crosses his arms over his chest. “Why?”

“Hobby,” Eren shrugs. “I use it for my art.”

“You use it for…wait, you’re Eren Jaeger?”

Eren studies the blue, green and white glass chips in his hands. “Yes?”

“You’re Eren Jaeger, and you use stolen glass from Sina Smith to make your art?” Levi has moved closer, and Eren has a nice view of his dirty boots.

“Yeah,” Eren says, brushing off his hands and standing slowly. “Are you sure you’re not a cop? You’re sounding a little bit like a Stormtrooper there, buddy.”

“No, I’m…a reporter.” Levi scratches the back of his neck. Something must show in Eren’s face because Levi quickly continues. “No, I’m not, fuck, I don’t know why I just lied.”

Levi curses some more and awkwardly paces around in front of Eren. “I’m a lawyer, I work for Erwin and he asked me to secretly check out the property.”

“Big fan of my work?” Eren asks, because he’s not sure what else to say.

He can’t tell for sure, but it looks like Levi is blushing, standing underneath a starry sky in the middle of an abandoned glass factory.

Something rattles inside Eren’s chest, and it feels a little like a piece of his glass heart sliding into place after being missing for so long.

“Hey Levi,” Eren calls out. “Want to get out of here?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I take prompts on tumblr.


	15. A Stolen Kiss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eren thinks about kissing Levi and quite frankly, it's long past due.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tumbr prompt: L. - A stolen kiss. (ereri)

It was early in the morning and the barracks were quiet. They had returned to base not long ago, dirty and tired and no more hopeful. Warmer weather didn’t bring an ounce more happiness, just the dull, heavy knowledge that if the Titans didn’t get them, at least they wouldn’t freeze.

Sometimes it was hard for Eren to pull up his old anger at the injustice of it all—he was usually just tired, like everyone else. His passion had dulled from repeated pain and loss. He had grown weary from beating his fists against the earth, only for his hands to come up bloody.

And yet, something still shimmered in his heart, golden and strong. A sliver of fight, a pebble of defiance in the face of such hellbent destruction.

_It was Mikasa, a lethal whisper at his ear._

_It was Armin, the current that pulled him forward._

_It was Jean, heroic in his loyalty._

And it was Levi, the one who had given him the power of choice when none dared breathed the word.

So when he saw Levi, sitting at the table and staring at cold cup of tea with unseeing eyes, he didn’t hesitate to stand before him.

“Captain,” he said breathlessly.

Levi’s narrow gaze moved to study him. He wasn’t pretty. His face showed years of wear and worry, and the purple that pooled beneath his eyes did him no favors. He wasn’t nice. Every word was shit this and shit that. He was terribly awkward and never knew how to give compliments.

But he was what Eren knew, the one person who looked him in the eyes and didn’t see him as a means to an end.

“Jaeger,” he said and his voice didn’t waver.

“I’m going to do something now,” Eren said, wetting his lips. “Frankly, it’s long past due, and if you don’t want me to now would be the time to say it.”

Levi’s eyes didn’t widen in surprise. He held Eren’s gaze and nodded his head slightly in permission.

Eren bent his head and kissed Levi then, chaste and sweet. As their lips pressed together quietly, he thought he tasted a little like hope.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Follow me at cinnamonskull for more drabbles. I do take prompts (but I'm pretty selective, be warned) : D


	16. Skin Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tumblr prompt: The way you said I love you - In a way I can’t return.

“What’s that?” Levi asked, catching something that looked like a bruise peaking out from the waistband of Eren’s shorts.

He remembered gripping Eren’s hips last night, tugging at his skin like he wanted to open him up. Eren, his favorite book, and the pages of his ribs bleeding through to a single note of intense, dizzying pleasure.

It had been quick in the dark, their bodies slotting together in perfect harmony, bookmarked by old memories and breathy promises. Still strange enough to ease the aching of soldiers forever searching for the horizon and yet, wondrously familiar.

Eren gave Levi a very Eren look—bashful and brazen at once, heat in his face paired with a playful, shy smile.

“What’s what?” he asked, something sparking across his eyes and catching at the flutter of his lashes.

Levi trailed a hand down Eren’s bare chest, unhurried but clear in his intent. His fingers found the dips in Eren’s muscles and then edged the dark mark on this skin, slightly curved and disappearing beneath his shorts.

He scratched with his nails. “This.”

“It’s for you,” Eren murmured, bucking his hips slightly under the pressure, urging Levi down. He could feel the weight of his gaze as he unwrapped his lover.

_There._

It was a symbol he’d seen more than a thousand times. The one on every box of his assam tea, hundreds and hundreds of boxes of tea.

“What’s that doing on your skin?” he asked breathless, puzzled. He blinked a few times, but nothing stemmed his desire to press his lips to it, see if it tasted like the bottom of his mug.

Eren thumbed the mark, his eyes growing hooded and lazy. “It reminds me of you.”

“You don’t even like tea.” Levi was enchanted by the way it seemed to move against Eren's tawny skin, alive and stirring something primal in the back of his mind.

“But you do,” Eren smiled.

Levi gave up and pressed in, lost in the pull of Eren’s body before he had a body, before he had skin to mark up, before he needed something to pour into the pieces of starlight that sparked him into existence.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know where to find me.


End file.
